Album Reviews

If you’re not familiar with Modest Mouse’s brand of jumpy/shouty, guitar driven music, if you’re a fan of XTC or The Talking Heads, you actually are.

On a quartet of albums, the Seattle based indie band fronted by enigmatic Isaac Brock, has trafficked in Andy Partridge style throaty yelps and barbed wire Colin Moulding guitars, blended with a more American-sounding David Byrne esthetic. They even managed a hit single back in 2004 with “Float On,” a song you probably know even if you think you don’t. It’s on the double elpee Good News For People Who Love Bad News (Epic E2 87125).

On the latest album, they’re joined by legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who adds an additional jolt of electricity to an already hot-wired sound, and on a few tracks by The Shins’ James Mercer.

Like Partridge, Brock manages to modulate a wide range of feelings and styles within the context of his shouty, seemingly one-dimensional style. Brock’s emotional palette matches his deliciously uncomfortable lyrics that won’t be analyzed or interpreted here.

The denseness of the proceedings, coupled with a foul mess of a recording make multiple plays mandatory before you begin making sense of it, but once your brain untangled things a bit, this is about as entertaining and enjoyable as a contemporary rock record gets, and if you’re of the right age, it will plunge you back to the late 1970’s when The Talking Heads and XTC emerged.

As for the recording, it’s got the congealed, dark, dense, cloudy, unpleasant, buzz saw vibrating palm print of Pro Tools all over it. It’s foul, wretched, compressed, thick, congealed, shimmer-free, dull, airless, windowless and congested. In addition, it just plain SUCKS.

When I saw producer Dennis Herring’s name on it before listening I was optimistic about the sound. Back in 1988 (!) I was more than pleasantly surprised by the sound of Camper Van Beethoven’s Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (Virgin 7 91908-1) produced by Herring. I was so impressed, I contacted him. Not that it was in Hugh Padgham or Glyn Johns territory, but compared to most of the sonic dreck being served up back then, it was a breath of fresh air.

As I remember the conversation, the budget was low since Camper Van Beethoven was an “indie” band and it was recorded in a garage using a semi-pro Fostex 8 tracks on ¼” tape Dolby C multitrack recorder! I know it because I used to own one and the mixer and the two track mixdown recorder.

So after suffering through the foul sound here, I pulled out the Camper album and it’s about 500 times better. Suddenly cymbals shimmered in space, bass drum had body and definition. There were images on a soundstage, there was an actual picture to view in space and harmonics and air.

So a cheap semi-pro analog rig trumps whatever this was done on, which a guarantee you was a computer program. If this was at any time analog, time for me to hang it up.

I take that back. The guys responsible for this sonic debacle should quit what they’re doing and start driving a bus. And I mean A bus, because if this recording is any indication of their abilities, it would take two of them to drive it. This is war baby! This kind of sonic shit has got to stop! If there's a reasonable explanation for why this sounds as it does (the dog ate the master tape or some such thing), I will apologize.

Oh, the packaging is really deluxe: gatefold, full color, textured paper jacket and inner sleeves with smooth laminated innards to protect the 180g vinyl LPs. I mean it’s really first rate packaging and pressing, but as much as I would like to tell you to support vinyl by buying this set, do yourself a favor and download the MP3 version from iTunes. It can’t sound any worse, and who knows? It might sound better.

Great music, shitty recording.